Left Behind
by CelestialHeavens1
Summary: Another take on post 11x02. Tony comes home, but he has this nagging feeling that he's left something behind in Israel.


A/N: Because I couldn't let that ending stand. Also because I found this on my computer.

* * *

As soon as Tony set foot on the plane, he knew he was making a horrible mistake. Like a part of him was staying behind in Israel. But he was determined to go back to America, to respect her wishes.

His bed at home was too small, too empty. He tossed and reached for her and she wasn't there. He didn't sleep. It only got worse.

Coffee was his new best friend. When he slept, it was only an hour or so at best, but being awake was torture. It only gave him more time to think about how much he missed her. God did he miss her. Her necklace had migrated permanently from his drawer to around his neck, under his shirt.

He had left his bags on the floor of his apartment, unable to unpack, unwilling to do so. Ziva and him had washed his clothes before he returned to the States and they still smelt like her laundry detergent and her as she folded them to pack away. Weeks had gone by and they had sat there untouched.

Finally, after he had slept for nearly four whole hours at his desk, Tony decided it was time. He had to unpack. He had to let go. Part way through his bags, he frowned at the realization he couldn't find his family signet ring anywhere. He tore though the rest of them until he was hit with the memory of the last time he saw it, on the bathroom sink, in the farmhouse.

It didn't feel like that was the only thing he had left behind in Israel.

His Ohio State t-shirt was also missing, even though he could have sworn he packed it. His favorite knife that he had put in his checked luggage was also gone. The postcards he had purchased for Abby. The old wood carving tools he had purchased for Gibbs. Scarves for Delilah. Specialized paper for McGee and a copy of Deep Six translated into Hebrew. All these little trivial things he had forgotten to bring back with him from Israel.

A message popped up on his screen one night. He didn't know why he tortured himself by leaving it opened, but tonight he was glad he did.

 _I have something of yours._

Tony grinned. He was wondering about going back to retrieve what he had forgotten.

 _Did you forget all these things on purpose?_

 _Subconsciously is more like it._

 _You should come back._

He froze, looking at her words.

 _I wanted to leave the violence behind me. I thought that meant letting you go, but I cannot live without you either._

 _Count to a million._

He found a ticket to Israel for early the next morning and sent her his flight information. He sent McGee his leave forms to forward to Gibbs and sent the physical forms by courier, along with a note that read 'if this is not acceptable, please accept this as my letter of resignation. You'll find it in the top drawer of my desk.'

When he landed in Israel the next evening, she was waiting for him at the gate. He ran to her, dropping his bag as he drew her into his arms. "Ziva..."

She had gained weight since he left. It wasn't noticeable to anyone who didn't know her body as well as he did. He dreamed about her curves, his hands spanning her waist, running down her back. She had changed since he had been gone.

"I've missed you so much," she whispered. "I shouldn't have sent you away."

She took him home to the farmhouse. Since resigning from any agency she carried a badge for, her driving had grown almost reasonable. She smiled more.

"I'm working with children," she told him. "There are a lot that come from bad family situations and they have no way out and no one to turn to. Mostly runaways, but some are still at their homes. A bunch remind me of Ari and I. I wonder if someone had reached out to us, if everything would have still happened the way it did."

"We wouldn't have met."

She shook her head. "I do not believe that. I think you and I would always have found each other."

He liked that thought, that in other parallel universes, those Tonys and Zivas always found each other without the pain and heartache they had faced in their world. That they were always fated to be.

She kissed him more often and touched him and allowed his touches. Their hands always seemed to reach for the other if they were in the room, like two magnets.

"I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon," she told him after she had spent the last several days feeling off. She was lightheaded and nauseous and she was worried that she was getting the same illness that the kids she was working with had been passing around. In the back of his mind, he knew she couldn't be sick, but he didn't dare let the thoughts - the hope - surface.

"I'll drive you," he told her, setting down the plaster from where he had been fixing the wall.

"You do not have to."

He kissed her forehead and took the keys from her hand. It spoke volumes to how unwell she felt that she didn't fight more than that.

The nurse let them go back together and he was surprised when the doctor called her Mrs. DiNozzo. Ziva's fingers intertwined with his and Tony smiled at her.

"Congratulations," he told them and the smile she gave him said that maybe she had suspected too.

"You're not surprised," she murmured as she redressed.

"It was just one of those gut feelings. You're not surprised either."

"I was thinking the same." She replaced her jacket and they walked out of there, hands laced .

"I guess I left behind more than I thought," he teased and caught her lips. She broke away, laughing, lighter than he could remember seeing her. Her hand settled on his cheeks and in that moment he could see their daughter doing the same.

He knew there was no where in the world he'd rather be. He knew could follow her example and give up the badge. After two decades in law enforcement, it was time.

"I love you, Ziva, you and our child."

She kissed him once more and whispered words of love to him as she took his hand again and they stepped into their future, together.


End file.
